Whatcha Cooking today?

[Sue_CT]

Mushroom risotto. No pictures. It's all gone.

[Sue_CT]

Next time, Worth, I was hungry, lol.

[Uncle_Feist]

Lmao

[karstopography]

Chili con carne.

[karstopography]

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Terlingua Recipe Chili. Really good.

[worth1]

Two pork loins cooked in skillet with salt and pepper.
Sauce made by deglazing pan with red wine and added my mushroom ketchup and rasins to reduce.
Baked sweet potato with butter and plain yogurt.

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[worth1]

I like the HEB fritos, I guess I'm cheap.
But tonight I'm having fried fish and fried fish.
No sides.
I think the best catfish I've ever had was caught out of the Pecos River at a place called Pandale Texas.
Cooked in a cast iron skillet with lard over a camp fire.
The big cat dragged the pole in the water and we fished it out with another pole and hook dragging bottom.
Pandale is In the middle of nowhere close to where Judge Roy Bean held court.
I miss living in West Texas like no tomorrow.
Pandale https://g.co/kgs/jkPKxS

[ness]

I've got several friends who have sous vides and love them, but I just didn't feel the need to add another kitchen gadget to the mix. But...son got me one for Christmas, so no more excuses. I gotta say, I love this thing! Here's a few pics:

[Sue_CT]

While I love the way the steaks look and the even cooking, I REALLY need to see and taste a good sear on my steak and I bet it takes a learning to curve to be able to do that without over cooking and ruining the desired level of doneness, which for me is on the rarer end of medium rare.

[ness]

While I love the way the steaks look and the even cooking, I REALLY need to see and taste a good sear on my steak and I bet it takes a learning to curve to be able to do that without over cooking and ruining the desired level of doneness, which for me is on the rarer end of medium rare.

That was one of my apprehensions with sous vide. But I've had good luck drying the meat off when it comes out of the bag, and searing it quickly on a screaming hot skillet. It really goes pretty quickly, and doesn't seem to mess with the doneness much. The steak was 130 degrees for 2 hours and perfect for us. The sear was maybe a 3 minutes total. Grilling and reverse sears seem to be harder to hit perfectly for me.

We did cod last night, which I struggle to get right, and it was really good. 132 for 30 minutes, dry and a quick sear.

[worth1]

Scored big at the general store today.
I haven't been able to find pearl barley in years at the store.
I also got a fresh bag of cumin seeds.
They put in a small Middle Eastern section where I got the black mustard seeds.
Another thing I picked up the other day was a bag of fried onions.
I can't wait to cook with this stuff tomorrow.

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[karstopography]

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Grilled escarole heart and grilled gulf shrimp tossed with cannellini beans, roasted red peppers, scallions, and smoked sausage, plus a little olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Finding ways to use the escarole besides in soups.

[pepperhead212]

Scored big at the general store today.
I haven't been able to find pearl barley in years at the store.
I also got a fresh bag of cumin seeds.
They put in a small Middle Eastern section where I got the black mustard seeds.
Another thing I picked up the other day was a bag of fried onions.
I can't wait to cook with this stuff tomorrow.
20230127_181521.jpg

Barley is one of those favorite grains I have in my pantry! That brand is one I see a lot of things by in the Indian market. Hopefully that store of yours gets a lot more of those ethnic ingredients, in those large bags.

I just got something new (for me) at the Indian market yesterday - the Hara Chana, or green chickpeas. I always liked those black chickpeas better than the regular, so I thought I'll try these. I'll also sprout a few, and see how those are.

[worth1]

Phase 1 of the beef barley mushroom stew soup stuff.
You're looking at 2.63 pounds of top section chuck roast.
Cubed up dredged in flour spiced with salt black pepper and garlic powder.
Browned in a little oil a little at a time so as not to steam the meat.
Afterwards I put in a leftover onion some crushed garlic and some cumin seeds to toast.
Next came two cups of water with Knorr beef bullion powder mixed in for te salt and flavor.
About a tablespoon of the powder in hot water.
Next the meat was put in and mixed up.
A little more cumin powder please.
Lastly in this phase a half cup of sweet sherry.
Lid on heat on low and walked away.
Let the braising begin.

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[worth1]

After simmering in the thick gravy like substance for an hour found meat to be about half tender I started phase 2.
A copious amount of coriander and cumin seeds were toasted in a skillet with a light smoke coming off.
This was then dumped into a big stainless bowl to cook completely off before grinding into a powder.
A really good portion was put into the kettle.
With this i added about 5 cups of hot water and a cup of pearl barley.
4 tablespoons of my homemade mushroom ketchup was added.
More black pepper please.
Set timer on another hour and will then move on to phase 3.
The reason for the cumin coriander spice forward is I love the flavors and this is a Texans take on a North African Moroccan type food.
Not claiming authentic but the flavors are there.
Reminiscent of the kabobs rolled in cumin powder you can get all over the place in that area of the world.
Or at least I've heard.

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[worth1]

At around 30 minutes into the last hour I dumped in about a handful of black mustard seeds for whatever reason I have no idea.
Dry cooked a pound of halved whole mushrooms because I didn't need the extra moisture and put them.
Additional salt was needed in the way of a little more bullion powder.
At last I turned the burner off put lid on and in the oven on warm.

Time to take a morning nap because I've been up since 4 AM this morning messing with this concoction.
It's going to be really delicious when I get back up.

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[Danny]

I love barley and beef and barley stews are yummy, right up there next to lamb and barley stew for us. Walmart also carries the Quaker pearl barley , worth, and has it pretty much all the time.

Just chicken curry for now, with some asparagus on the side. Boneless skinless chicken thighs were on sale this week, so using what is more cost effective right now.

[pepperhead212]

I used those new green chickpeas today, along with some barley, in an Indian soup, which I seasoned with that malvani masala spice mix I made a while back, plus a few other things. I started soaking 1 c of the green chickpeas in 4 c water, and 1/2 tsp baking soda yesterday. Today, I drained it, and rinsed it, and put it in the Instant Pot, with 5 c water, a tsp of salt, and a teabag (something used in chole masala, and other dishes with regular chickpeas). I pressure cooked it for 25 minutes, then drained, saving the liquid.

Then I melted about 2 tb of ghee in the IP, and sautéed a medium diced onion about 6 minutes, until it was golden. Then I added 2 large cloves of garlic, minced, plus about 2 tb of tomato paste, and cooked about 2 minutes. Then I added 2 tb of the malvini masala powder, cooked briefly, then added the cooking liquid plus water to 5 c. Then I returned the chickpeas to the pot, along with 3/4 c pearl barley, and 3/4 tsp turmeric. I mixed well, and turned it off, put the lid back on, and set it to MANUAL 25 min., and when done, I let the pressure release naturally.

Meanwhile, I got the spices and curry leaves ready for the tarka, and diced 2 small potatoes. And I got about 6 c of greens from the hydro chopped up fine, then tossed them in a wok over medium high heat, until wilted down to about 2 c, only about a minute.

When the IP was opened, I added 1 tsp garam masala, and stirred in the wilted greens and diced potatoes, and simmered 8 or 9 minutes. While simmering, I made the tarka, for tempering, and stirred it in at the end. Then I topped with a little cilantro.
Dried chickpeas - green on left, black/brown on right. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I was surprised how much these looked like the black chickpeas, once cooked. The taste was very close, too, though I'd have to taste them next to each other, to taste the difference.
cooked green chickpeas - hara chana. They look almost the same as black chickpeas, once cooked. by pepperhead212, on Flickr


Cooked greens, reduced by about 3/4. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Spices ready for making tarka, for chickpea barley dish. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tarka, ready to stir into the chickpea barley soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished chickpea barley soup. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

Scored big at the general store today.
I haven't been able to find pearl barley in years at the store.
I also got a fresh bag of cumin seeds.
They put in a small Middle Eastern section where I got the black mustard seeds.
Another thing I picked up the other day was a bag of fried onions.
I can't wait to cook with this stuff tomorrow.
20230127_181521.jpg

Barley is one of those favorite grains I have in my pantry! That brand is one I see a lot of things by in the Indian market. Hopefully that store of yours gets a lot more of those ethnic ingredients, in those large bags.

I just got something new (for me) at the Indian market yesterday - the Hara Chana, or green chickpeas. I always liked those black chickpeas better than the regular, so I thought I'll try these. I'll also sprout a few, and see how those are.

@Danny
I just looked on line and saw the Quaker pearl barley in the box at My HEB.
I never even thought to look for it in a box.
It's supposedly 14 cents an ounce and the stuff I bought was 16 cents an ounce.
I ended up getting a total of 48 ounces of the stuff.
The first time it hit the shelf i wanted to stay inside a budget and didn't get any.
A few days later it was all gone and took forever to restock.
I hope more people buy the stuff in this section so thet will keep it on hand.
The bag of cumin seeds was a real bargain at 14 cents an ounce compared to the silly bottles in the spice section at anywhere from about a dollar an ounce to 2 dollars an ounce.

[pepperhead212]

I agree, @worth1, I have to laugh at when I see the prices of those spice jars in supermarkets. I used to buy some from Penzey's, but even before the shipping went up everywhere, they got more expensive, plus dropped the large bags, and nothing is like the prices, or the selection, in the Indian market, as well as some in the SE Asian market.